BEIJING — China’s authoritarian government plans to implement a dystopian social credit system that uses big data to monitor the behavior of citizens. <br /> <br />The social credit system is likely to track social media activity, career movement, online purchases, financial and criminal records and translate them into a personal credit score, according to BBC News and News.com.au. <br /> <br />The draconian plan echoes the 2002 science fiction movie Minority Report starring Tom Cruise, in which police arrest people for crimes before they have been committed. <br /> <br />A person’s social network is also crucial to determining their credit score, as having friends with a low rating will bring one’s own mark down. <br /> <br />A person with a low score may be deemed “untrustworthy”, and the consequences could include difficulties in getting loans, hotel rooms or even the denial of the right to travel abroad. <br /> <br />The system is in its pilot phase, with eight private companies commissioned to set up their own credit databases. <br /> <br />Alibaba’s Sesame Credit system is highly popular and is used to measure users’ honesty on China’s biggest dating website, Baihe. <br /> <br />Other private companies involved include internet giant Tencent, and Qianhai Zhengxin, owned by China’s biggest insurance and financial group, Ping An Insurance. <br /> <br />The system is expected to cover every Chinese citizen by 2020.
